Catching a Monster

I'm not much of a fisherman, unless you count hooking into seagulls and seaweed as requiring skill. But this got my attention.

These guys are friends of a friend. They were fishing the Willamette River here in Oregon a few weeks ago and caught this 1000 pound Sturgeon.

Lawyer Jokes become Banker Jokes

After my own battles with Countrywide Mortgage Services (which I will begin blogging about separately), and the realization that banks have received billions of dollars without lending it back to struggling consumers, I propose a new rule to the committee that manages global joke telling. Here is my suggested language:

Rule 5150: From this point forward, herewith and thereforeto, we, the committee for the ethical treatment of jokes and their telling, do hereby determine that "lawyers" are no longer to be used to represent the lowest degree of human behavior within jokes and their telling.

Henceforth, "bankers" and/or "mortgage company executives" will be used in their place. Bankers and Mortgage Company Executives (aka MCE's) may be treated as mutually low and interchangeable in context.

Ok, get the word out there and have fun telling "banker jokes".

My Christianity Today Story about Radical Faith

I originally wrote this article (deleted at the request of CT editor) for Relevant Magazine. They asked for it. But when they read my final draft (Again, you'll have to read it when it comes out in CT), the managing editor of Relevant would not run it unless I agreed to significant changes. I love Relevant Mag and, to be honest, it was not clear to me what I was supposed to change exactly. But I felt it was important to leave the story as is. So I sent it that way to Christianity Today.

Actually, Ed Gilbreath made the introduction for me as he'd been an editor there for years and we went to the same college.

So, here is my four page story that comes out in the February issue. (Again, deleted because the editor at CT said I "scooped the magazine" which was really fun to hear. After I realized what the actually meant, I felt like a reporter for the Daily Planet) Should be on the shelves in a couple weeks. I look forward to hearing your feedback so please read through it and let me know what you think.

Tow Surfing a Sick Reef Break in Oregon

Click here to see more photos of a ridiculous reef break near our home in Oregon.

Recently, a local surf buddy got some pros to come up and tow-surf it. The pics came out in Surfer Magazine this month.

You might want to sit down while viewing, afterward, you'll want to go to confession.

Enjoy!